The present invention relates generally to terminal applicators which automatically crimp successive terminals or connectors to wires, where the terminals or connectors are provided in strip form, and more specifically to an applicator which has a specially adapted, interchangeable movement control device which may incorporate the proper feed stroke limit, retract stroke limit or crimp die which corresponds to the progression and style of terminal or connector being applied.
Crimping machines have been found to be very useful for the purpose of effectively crimping insulated and uninsulated metal terminals or connectors onto a stripped, insulated wire lead. A conventional crimping machine comprises a press and a terminal applicator. The applicator is, in effect, a miniature press which has a press frame and a reciprocable ram in the frame which is coupled to the ram of the press. Furthermore, an applicator also has a crimping zone, an area in which the crimping tooling is mounted, and a self-contained feeding mechanism for feeding terminals or connectors, in strip form, into the crimping zone.
The terminal feeding mechanism usually associated with such a crimping machine successively advances the terminals or connectors, in strip form, into the crimp dies. Commonly, this mechanism may be activated in many different ways, the usual methods include a camming surface built into the applicator ram, an air cylinder activated by switches contacting upper die set, or applicator ram surfaces, or an electronically operated air cylinder. Each of these terminal feeding common mechanism activation methods usually motivates some form of linkage connected to a feed finger. Basically, the terminal feeding mechanism reciprocates the feed finger to place a next terminal or connector in the crimp zone.
The advent and increasing use of continuously molded insulative terminal strip technology has increased the structural variety of terminal strips available for high speed and high volume terminating applications, and the need for an applicator which can be adapted to apply a wide variety of continuously molded insulative terminal strips having a variety of pitches, diameters, strip widths and shapes.
Continuously molded insulative strips are formed by molding a strip of spaced plastic terminal insulating housings transversely positioned along the length of the strip with adjacent barrels being interconnected by plastic ribbon portions molded therebetween. Metal terminal or connector elements are then inserted within the insulative housings to complete the continuously molded terminal strip portions. Typically, the insulating housings are formed with a plastic barrel portion for insulating the crimp-barrel portion of the terminal, a plastic funnel portion for directing a wire into the metal barrel portion and, if desired, a terminal portion to insulate the metal terminal blade; the metal terminal blade being formed in a number of sizes and shapes, for example, locking fork terminals, female disconnects, right angle female disconnects, and male disconnects.
Uninsulated terminals, such as disconnect terminals, ring terminals, fork terminals, pin terminals, etc., are commonly known as chain terminals, which are currently available and widely used for many applications. These terminals are also provided in strip form, but are sometimes oriented differently than the insulated terminals. In those instances, the uninsulated terminals are joined in a head-to-toe fashion rather than the side-to-side arrangement of other insulated and uninsulated terminals. As a consequence, the crimping machine for head-to-toe chain terminals is slightly different. Most notably, the applicator and its corresponding upper and lower die sets are arranged such that the chain terminals are advanced along the longitudinal axis of the die sets, thus approaching from behind the die sets rather than approaching laterally. Otherwise, the function and operation of the applicator is virtually identical.
Conventional crimping machines, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,160 to Bulanda et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,468 to Cootes et al., permit adjustment of the feed stroke, retract stroke and crimp dies for a variety of different types and progressions of terminals or connectors. These adjustments, however, are usually made independently of each other for each different type and progression of terminal or connector. Thus, machine down time and change over speed are increased while operator efficiency is decreased. Separate controls for each adjustment also requires more trial runs after change over to achieve proper advance, retract, crimp pocket dimension, and consequently there is an increase in wasted product.
Therefore, a simple, inexpensive, quickly changed, and precisely accurate feed finger progression control mechanism is desired and improvement in the art of terminal applicator design is needed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved terminal strip applicator.
It is another object of the present invention to provide one, single part change which eliminates many independent adjustments.
It is another further object of the present invention to reduce machine down time and change over speed while increasing operator efficiency.
It is another still further object of the present invention to eliminate unnecessary adjustments which result in increased trial runs and wasted product.
It is another still further object of the present invention to provide a movement control device which may incorporate a feed stop limit, a retract stop limit, or the correct crimp die.
It is another still further object of the present invention to provide a movement control device which is interchangeably mounted to a terminal applicator.
It is another still further object of the present invention to provide a movement control device which interacts with the distal end of the feed finger to limit the feed and retract movements.
It is another still further object of the present invention to provide a retract stop limit with a reversely curved wall which engages a correspondingly shaped feed finger.
In general, an applicator embodying the present invention includes a terminal advancing mechanism which has a device for reciprocally advancing and retracting a feed finger which resiliently biases a terminal strip from a first position to a second advanced position in alignment with a crimp die, and a device for controlling reciprocal movement of the advancing mechanism by interacting with the feed finger, whereby advance and retract limits are defined.